The Ties that Bind
by UnapologeticMS
Summary: Dean and Sam meet someone they were least expecting at the most convenient time. OC.
1. Chapter 1

**The Ties That Bind**

_I wrote this story almost two years ago, when I first started watching Supernatural - it's five chapters long and complete. I intended for this story to have a long-spanning arch, but I've moved on to writing Sons of Anarchy FF. I may get back to it in the future, as I do have a few ideas for Lucy and the boys :) _

_Chapter 1 _

"How many?" Dean asked breathlessly, his back pressed against Sam's.

"Five, last I counted."

"Did you get any?"

"Nope. Salt rock barely makes a dent."

"I'm all out of Holy Water. Where's the Colt when you need it..?"

They were standing in the middle of a large, empty warehouse, surrounded by five angry red-eyed demons, each encased in a body of a beautiful woman. The devil-women took turns taking stabs at one brother or the other, like cats playing with mice. Enough to harm, but not enough to kill.

"I'm getting tired of this." Dean whispered to Sam before the next bout of torture began. "If we're going down, let's go down swinging."

"In flames." Sam's eyes locked on Dean's, as he pulled out a grenade.

"Dude, you've been holding out."

"I've got two."

"Use the first one as a distraction, maybe we'll be able to get away. And the other ..." He didn't finish, but saw that his brother understood.

Sam pulled on the safety pin and threw the first grenade at the two demons farthest away from them, while he and Dean dropped to the ground and covered their heads. The boom of the explosion was deafening, but did nothing to disguise outraged yelps of the demons. Before the boys even had a chance to get back up, the demons were upon them, clawing at their backs, pulling their hair. Sam reached for the second grenade, but it was beyond his grasp. This is it, thought Dean, and there's nothing I can do. The howls of the demons became more ecstatic as they neared their purpose. At last, The Winchester brothers would be done for, their souls burning in hell forever.

Suddenly, Dean felt a shower of water hitting them from behind. The demons hissed and squirmed as the Holy Water burned their flesh.

"Not so fast, bitches." They heard a female voice, loud and strong. The demons left them alone, attracted by the new arrival.

Dean turned on his back to see what had just happened. He saw a tall, dark-haired girl standing a few feet away, dressed all in black leather, armed with a flaming sword and a huge honking water gun. Judging by her weapons, she had to be a hunter.

"Come on, Sammy, I think we got help." He pulled up his younger brother, and together they staggered back into the fight.

"Get over here! Now!" She called to them. Well, that's easier said than done, Dean thought, as they faced a wall of pissed off demons between them. He and Sam used the last of their salt buckshot to make way to the girl.

"Distract them." She ordered, then lowering the tip of the sword to the ground, she began drawing a circle around them, while a Latin incantation spilled rapidly from her lips. "Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio."

Dean recognized the prayer by that first verse. Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Was she trying to summon the angel? This girl was clearly nuts, but they were as good as dead, so maybe it didn't hurt to try. The circle she traced was on fire and the demons cringed back from its light. The girl's incantation continued. "Princeps militiae Caelestis, satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen." O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

As the last words fell from her mouth, a wave of light and fire exploded outwards from the ring surrounding them, shattering the demons and turning them into dust. As the wave hit the walls and dissipated, the warehouse became eerily quiet, filled only with the sounds of quickened breaths of the three humans left standing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"What's just happened?" Sam whispered, braking the silence.

"I'm more interested in who the hell are you?" Dean turned on the girl, not sure whether to be scared or impressed. She was confident, athletic, graceful, and seemed about Sam's age.

"I'm Lucy. Now, how about a thank you for saving your butts?" She stared at them, disbelieving. "Come on, no red eyes here. And look, I can drink Holy Water." She squirted the water gun into her mouth. "Are we ok now?"

When Sam and Dean exchanged a weary glance and nodded, she exhaled annoyed. "Geez, you guys are beyond paranoid."

"We have to be, it's a matter of survival." Sam said sombrely. "I'm Sam and this is my brother, Dean. Thank you for saving our butts."

She nodded briefly, cringing as she took in the state of their injuries. "We should patch you up before you both bleed to death. So, your motel room or mine?"

"Yeah, thanks, but no thanks." Dean shook his head, and felt the cold dribble of blood slither down his temple. "It was nice working with you, but we're done."

"Come on, Dean, we don't even have a first aid kit. You're a mess." Sam pleaded with his brother.

"So are you, but we'll do."

"You should listen to your brother, Dean Winchester. I hear he's the sensible one."

They looked at her with renewed interest and suspicion.

"So what are we now, some hunter celebrities?" Dean was exhausted and getting cranky. All he wanted was to lie down and sleep for a week.

"I know Ellen and Jo. Ellen knows you. Enough said." She shrugged. "So, shall we?"

It was the reasonable thing to do.

The Winchester brother had decided to follow Lucy back to her place, and were unsettled to find themselves arriving to the motel where they were staying, her room being just down the hall from theirs.

"Ok, now that's something you've got to explain." Dean reluctantly let her tend to the wounds on his back. Her daft fingers expertly applied bandages to his ravaged skin, while Sam went to get some clean clothes.

"I've been looking for you and Sam for months, and with Ellen's help, I finally tracked you down here."

"You tracked us down, huh?" Suddenly, he saw the girl in a very different light. He stiffened and moved away as he turned to face her.

"Dean, there's no need to be freaked out. I saved you, remember?"

"Oh, you better believe I'm freaked out, sister." Dean's eyebrows knotted dangerously, which always managed to intimidate people, but instead Lucy stiffed a giggle. He was getting more irritated by the moment. "What's so damn funny?"

"Well, that's exactly why I came looking for you two."

"I'm tired, hungry, and bleeding like a stuck pig, so please spare me the puzzles, ok?"

"What puzzles?" Sam asked, as he walked into Lucy's room with an armful of clothes. He sat down next to Dean and handed him a pair of his own jeans. "That's all I could find. Apparently you're out of pants."

"Why do you have to be so freakishly tall, bro?" Dean complained as he pulled on the jeans and began rolling up the pant legs. "Lucy, here, was about to tell me why she's been tailing us. For months, apparently." He was angry with himself for being such an easy target. Didn't dad teach you better, you moron?, he berated himself silently.

"I haven't been tailing you, but looking for you. Big difference. And you should be glad I found you when I did."

"That still doesn't answer my question. Why?" Dean was relentless.

"Because you're family." She said simply, exhaling with relief.

"Wh..What?" It was too much to wrap his head around.

"You are... our family? How?" Sam stared at her, shocked.

"I guess there's only one way of saying it." Lucy hesitated, her eyes shifting uncomfortably from Dean to Sam and back again, "I am your half-sister. Your father's daughter."

"How is that possible?" Dean asked.

"Your dad was a man and obviously capable of having children." She gestured at them, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"That's not what I meant." Dean got up and started pacing. "How the hell did this happen and why is it the first time we hear about it?"

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Sam also got up, obviously upset.

"I found out not long ago and was just as surprised as you are. And I have proof." Lucy looked at them earnestly. "Let me start at the beginning. My mother's name was Rebecca. When she was seventeen, she lost her entire family in a demon fire – her mom and dad, her two brothers. That was over twenty five years ago. Soon after, she became a hunter. She met your dad on one of the jobs and they ended up tracking the yellow-eyed demon together for a while. At the end of that time, I was conceived out of one night of companionship."

"So that was it? A one night stand?" Dean spewed, immediately regretting his words, as he watched Lucy's eyes harden and fill with angry tears. It's not like he was one to cast stones.

"Dude, that was out of line." Sam moved to sit next to Lucy. "Please forgive my brother for being an idiot. He doesn't deal well with change."

"Maybe this was a mistake, Sam. I should leave."

"No, no way." Sam's eyes widened in panic. He turned to Dean. "Could you be less of an ass? Apologize!"

Well, now he felt like one. "I'm sorry, Lucy. It's just, this is a bit much... Tell us what happened after..."

Lucy gave him a long hard look, obviously trying to decide whether he was sincere. He was. "My mother loved your dad. She was there for him when there was no one else, was strong when he could be no longer, when he had to be strong for the two of you. He cared for her. Enough to be there when I was born. It's his signature on my birth record and I carry his name. See for yourself."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lucy pulled out a neat package of documents tied with a black ribbon from the inside of her jacket. She gave it to Dean, who unfolded it and found a photograph of John Winchester leaning over a woman – who was not their mother - in a hospital bed and holding a newborn. They looked happy. Dean just shook his head as he and Sam studied the evidence, but before he had a chance to object, Lucy said to him. "I know, it could be faked. But it's real. And so is this." She took off a necklace and handed it to Dean. It was one of the two dog tags his father kept from his time as a Marine. "He gave it to me when my mom died six months ago, and told me to give it to you, Dean, if I ever needed to to contact you, to convince you of my identity."

Dean took it from her, and turned it in his fingers. He knew it to be the original, having studied it so often. There was no denying it, Lucy was telling the truth. He looked into his brother's eyes and saw that he agreed. "So you are a Winchester?"

"So I am." Lucy looked at him with determination. "And you two are all I have left of family."

"Great." Dean sighed deeply and rubbed his face hard with his hands, trying to wake up from this life-changing thing that just happened. "Like I need another one to worry about."

"I can take care of myself." The girl straightened up defiantly. "I've been hunting with my mother for five years, and I'm twenty now. I know what the hunter's life is like, I've been living it."

"He's overprotective like that." Sam was trying to make peace. He had been very quiet until now, just taking it all in.

"Why didn't dad ever say anything? Why didn't he tell me?" Dean still had trouble accepting it. "Why did he give you all this back up proof, without just telling us?"

"Because he didn't know if he'd be around to tell you in person. When he was ready to tell you." Her gaze, steady on Dean's and meeting his objections head on, wavered and softened as it travelled to the younger brother. "And he thought that Sam was enough for you to handle."

They both looked at their brother, whose face was a picture of shocked hurt. Lucy reached out her hand to pat his. "Sorry, Sammy."

Crap, she was right. He'll have two of them to take care of. It was just too much. He was spread thin as it was, and now this. "I've got to think about this." Dean said as he grabbed his jacket and keys to the Impala.

"Dean, wait." Sammy called and went after him, getting into the front seat next to his brother.

"Sammy, I need to be alone." He turned on the ignition.

"Why? You should be happy about this. Just when we thought we only had each other, we find out we have a sister." Sam only saw the positive in all this.

"I don't know if I like this new addition."  
>"Well, whether you like it or not, Dean, she's here. She's got Winchester blood in her. I mean, look at her eyes. They are dad's eyes, your eyes."<p>

"Well, forgive me if it'll take more than a pair of pretty eyes to convince me." Dean raged. "How can you be so gullible?"

"Dean, calm down. She drank holy water, so she's no demon. And she has pictures with her mother and our dad. She has a birth certificate with our dad's name on it." Sam's eyebrows were creased with anxiety. "I'm not stupid, Dean. While I was getting our clothes, I called Ellen and Bobby. They both confirmed they knew Rebecca and vouched for Lucy. Ellen said Lucy used to stay with her and Jo sometimes when Rebecca went on hunts. Heck, Ash helped her find us. Bro, she is family..."

Another nail in the coffin. Dean chewed his bottom lip as he thought of this new situation, car idling away. Every bone in his body told him that she was who she said she was, but this was just too ridiculous.

"Are you sure that we can trust her?"

"People we trust have confirmed her identity. Well, not that she's dad's daughter, but that she is Lucy, Rebecca's daughter, and that they've known her for years or since birth. What more can we do, Dean?"

"Well, there's always plain old denial." Dean looked at his brother, a little sarcastic smirk curving his lip.

"Yes, that'll work really well." Sam rolled his eyes, his patience was obviously stretched to its limit. "Dean, this is serious!"

"Just because she's got dad's blood in her, doesn't automatically make her family."

"Let's give her a chance to earn it then. Think about it, Dean, we have a sister. I want to get to know her."

Dean looked at his brother's hopeful eyes, a sight he hasn't seen in a long while. Sam obviously loved the idea of a new-found family member. Dean remembered back to the day mom and dad brought his baby brother from the hospital. The joy of it, the excitement. Better than any toy he ever got.

"All right, Sammy. You win." Dean turned off the engine and got out of the car.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lucy still sat on the bed, just as they left her. "So?" She asked, anxious expectation in her eyes.

"We've decided to give you a chance." Dean said, still not fully convinced.

"Oh, did you, now?"

"What Dean means is, we want to get to know you. Become a family again." Sammy smiled at her. She smiled back.

"That's not what I meant."

"I can't say I expected more. We've just met and barely know each other."

Sam and Dean exchanged I-told-you looks, each for a different reason. Dean was still angry for not knowing for so long. "So what did you think it'd be like, this family reunion? Some domestic bliss?"

Lucy didn't flinch. "If it includes demon hunts, fang decapitations, and an occasional exorcism, then I'm game."

"Listen, Lucy, you seem like a nice, capable girl. Why don't you do something else with your life?" Dean wished he had that choice.

"Don't you think I've tried? Do you think this is what my parents wanted for me? They said it wasn't my war to fight. They said, go to college and have a normal life, become a nurse. So I started on that path, went to school, pretended to be normal. Even the way my mom died was normal. After everything she's been through, it was cancer that got her. And then I found out about dad..." Her voice wavered and her eyes filled with tears she quickly shook off. "I've quit school. I just couldn't go on. I've seen too much. I know there are evil things lurking in the shadows. This is my war."

Sam and Dean looked at her with complete understanding.

"But why the hell did you come looking for us?" Dean still didn't understand.

"Finding you two was my best bet. I tried hunting alone and I'm capable, but there are limits to what I can do on my own. I'd prefer not to die just yet. And we all want the same thing - to hunt demons, to save innocent people, to kill the yellow-eyed bastard." That was the most reasonable thing Dean heard so far.

"No argument there." Dean sighed, in equal parts resigned and convinced. "In that case, we have some logistics to work out."

"What do you propose?" Asked Lucy.

"Three is stronger than two." It was Sam who answered. "I say we ride together."

"I thought of splitting forces to cover more ground." Lucy replied.

"No way." Sam shook his head. "You came to us for a reason. We shouldn't separate now that you found us. Let's ride it out together until we find and finish the demon."

Dean and Lucy thought about it for a moment and then said at the same time. "OK."

As soon as Dean woke up, the smell of fried bacon and hot cinnamon buns invaded his nostrils. What the hell, he thought on high alert while getting up.

As the last tendrils of sleep slithered out of his brain and he rounded the corner from the bedroom to the tiny kitchenette of their motel room, he heard two intermingled voices. One undoubtedly belonged to Sammy, although he rarely heard his brother's deep-chested laugh, and the other was pearls of girly giggle. Did he bring a girl home last night? And then Dean remembered. Lucy.

The sight he saw by the old-fashioned Formica table startled him into a speechless stare. Sam was sitting across from their new-found sister, their plates brimming with fragrant food, both smiling at each other like old friends.

"Any leftovers?"

"Plenty." Said the girl and gestured at the stove. "And good morning to you too, sunshine." She turned to Sam. "Is he always so grumpy?"

"Only when he's hungry." Sammy smiled back and shot a warning glance at Dean, which he ignored as he joined them at the table with a heaping plate.

"Something good will come of this after all, Sammy. Hot breakfast every morning."

"Don't you be getting used to it." She gestured at his plate with her chin. "This was just a peace offering. To sweeten the pot."

"Just when I thought we had it made." Dean gave her a crooked smile. This threesome business was still chaffing him, but he'd better start getting used to it. It made him think of the fact that they'd need to work out logistics and of that two-wheeled beast she rode. "So what's up with the motorcycle, anyway?"

"It's my hog, Jayne."

"Hog, huh? Figures, she calls her bike by a girl's name."

"Jayne is not a girl's name. As in Jayne Cobbs, the hero of Canton." Lucy shrugged as her brothers exchanged a confused glance. "You two have obviously been living under a rock and never watched the brilliance that is Firefly."

"I am well versed in popular culture, thank you very much." Dean took another big bite. "Just not nature shows."

"It's sci-fi." Lucy scoffed and turned to Sam. "Is he always this pig-headed?"  
>"Oh, this is nothing." Sam smiled at her. Finally, someone else who saw Dean in the same light.<p>

"You'll thank me when my pig-headedness will save your ass one day." The eldest brother scoffed and finished his breakfast.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Now that his hunger was satisfied, Dean looked from Sam to Lucy, and back again. "So, what's the story?"

"The story?" Lucy was slightly confused.

"I mean the ring of fire." He heard the trumpets of Johnny Cash's song playing in his head as soon as he said it. "Was it some white magic?"

Lucy looked uncomfortable as she gathered up the dirty plates and took them back to the kitchen counter.

"Oh, come on, what's your secret? Saint Michael?" Dean teased. He had no idea how she did it.

"We've never seen anything like it, Lucy." Sam became the conduit for the conversation between his eldest and youngest sibling. Stuck in the middle now. He didn't mind, since this new peg on the family ladder fascinated him. "I've read about summoning angels, but I've never seen it done. Is that what you did last night?"

Lucy took her time washing up the dishes and then drying her hands. After a long moment of silence, Dean got up frustrated. "That's fine, cause I don't think I care to know."

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, I just don't think you'll believe me."

"You might be right about that."

"Dean, at least listen to what she's got to say." Sam argued. "Go on, Lucy, we could use any help we can get."

"OK, if you must know. I had summoned the help of Saint Michael Archangel."

Sam was speechless. Dean was not. "This is new. So Saint Michael himself dispatched those baddies for us?"

"No, his minions did, most likely my guardian angel. The archangel only shows up for the important stuff."

"What? This work's not important enough for him?"

Lucy ignored Dean and spoke to Sam instead. "I've been praying to Saint Michael for as long as I can remember. My mom always said I had angels to protect me. That my guardian angel would reach out to any of the Archangels. I thought Michael was appropriate, since he is the warrior who slayed the devil."

"Are you telling us you believe in angels?" Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing. Just when he had Sammy convinced, she was undoing all his hard work.

"I don't only believe, I know they are real."

"Our mom believed too." Sam's eyes softened.

"Oh, for crying out loud..." Dean huffed exasperated.

Lucy looked at both brothers astonished and asked. "You guys believe in demons, but you don't believe in angels?"

"I believe in what I've seen with my own two eyes." Dean replied quickly.

"We were on a case a few weeks ago, where we thought we were dealing with an avenging angel." Sam explained. "Well, I thought so, I really wanted to believe, Lucy. Dean thought I was nuts, that it was an avenging spirit. He was right."

"That doesn't mean that angels don't exist."

"Please don't go filling Sam's head with this nonsense."

"It makes sense, Dean." Sammy, of course, fell for it. "We just never looked at it that way."

"You two are so focused on fighting the bad, you never thought of seeking help from the good," Lucy added.

Sam was already at his laptop, doing some digging.

"I think she's right, Dean. There's lore in Catholic church about summoning help of Archangel Michael for protection in battle. To aid the righteous."

"You can say whatever you want, I just don't believe it." Dean was stubborn in his denial.

"Dean is a devout atheist." Sam added.

"OK, let's leave God out of it and reason this out. You've seen demons, you know they are real, right?" Both brothers nodded at Lucy perplexed, their eyebrows knotted. "And what are demons, but fallen angels? So if demons exist, so must angels. They are two sides of the same coin."

"Then why aren't they helping us out? Why don't they show up every time we fight one of those bastards?"

"Because, first of all, you need to believe, and pray, and develop a relationship with them. At least with your guardian angel, who can then intercede on your behalf with the Archangels. That's how it works for me, but it took me years to achieve."

"It all sounds like a bunch of new-age hooey. I hate to break this to you, Lucy, but I'm not convinced."

"It's not new-age hooey, Dean. This is about having faith." Lucy was visibly upset. "What do you think happened last night when all three of us were saved from these red-eyed bitches?"

"I'm not sure, and frankly, I don't care."

"It was by Saint Michael's divine intervention that we're still alive." Lucy looked at their faces, Dean's sceptical frown and Sam's earnest confusion. "We're fighting a loosing battle, so if you want to have any chance at all, I suggest you start believing. I can't do it on my own."

The boys weighed her words. "She has a good point, Dean." Sam broke the silence. "I want to believe."

"Believe all you want." Dean spoke to them, stubborn in his point of view. "As long as it doesn't interfere with our job, I don't care what you believe in."

Sam and Lucy exchanged hurt glances, but said nothing.

"Now, can we please get on the road? Bobby called me this morning. Apparently, the Sleepy Hollow is acting up again, and I have a good feeling we can finally nail it." He got up and, within moments, was ready to go and so were his siblings. "Come on, let's kick some ghost ass."

THE END.

_That's all folks. I have two more bits for this story, one scene which explains Lucy's appearance in the Winchester brothers' lives & one cross-over SGA/SPN related to Lucy and the boys. I'll post them sometime in the future, as I can't see myself coming back to expand this story to integrate them. Please R&R, and THANK YOU for your reviews so far!_


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